Or because women don't actually find eye-gouging very attractive.
Apparently not the case with Byzantine women. Hell, its practically a gesture of affection. Chopping the heads off husbands, gouging their sons eyes out...
So, how do you make a medieval-based environment patriarchy-free? And should we?
Depends what you see as an expression of a patriarchical environment. The way that Tom has set up the game means that the game itself registers no distinction between males and females aside from title. There is no mechanic stopping women from recruiting and leading units, from fighting in tournaments, or from taking positions of high command. All of these could be considered to be traditionally jobs restricted to the realm of men, and yet they are available to either gender in the game. As for roleplaying, that is mostly up to the players themselves - discriminating someone solely on the basis of gender on the other hand is something frowned upon by the community.
So as far as I see it, Battlemaster is already very much removed from "the patriarchy". If you think otherwise then please feel free to dispute my point.
